FoxMelanie Amaro delivers another winning performance during Wednesday's episode of "The X Factor."

Things are really starting to get interesting on the third-to-last week of "The X Factor."

I thought I had this all figured out: Josh Krajcik, Melanie Amaro and Rachel Crow represented the top-tier of the remaining five singers, the sure-things among whom the title would be earned.

As for Marcus Canty and Chris Rene, well, they had their moments, but seriously, the hour was getting late and there were only so many open seats left at the VIP table of season one.

And yet, Wednesday's episode crammed together a gallery of great performances, including strong showings by the two weaker singers, priming us for what's guaranteed to be a tension-filled results show tonight.

First, the backstory: with only five acts remaining — and an hour and a half of airtime to fill — the original plan called for the singers to start by performing dance songs, before coming back for another round of viewer-approved tunes.

But apparently, host Steve Jones told us, there was an "error in communication" that caused the show to bypass the viewer choices and instead saddle the contestants with the burden of getting their emergency "save me" song into shape for Wednesday.

That explained, here's a look at how each act fared.

Melanie Amaro: If you have functioning ear drums and have caught an episode or two of the Factor thus far, you already know Amaro has emerged as one of the icons of the season, a diva apprentice whose vocal majesty is eclipsed only by her winning personality. But is she bulletproof enough to withstand a subpar performance? I thought voters would be more charitable to Stacy Francis and Drew Ryniewicz after they suffered missteps earlier in the season, but America instead quickly turned her back on them, summarily dumping them in the following evening's episode.

Of course, Amaro is more popular than either of those two, and her underwhelming performance Wednesday of Adele's "Someone Like You" was still captivating. It's just that she clearly looked uncomfortable singing the dance arrangement, and when the song finished, the camera caught a look of bewilderment on her face, as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of her showing.

The judges, as usual, went ga-ga for her performance, and Amaro's follow-up of Whitney Houston's "When You Believe" marked a return to her usual crowd-pleasing, gospel-infused trademark style. And even if I'm still smarting from my assumptions earlier in the season that quickly landed me in trouble, I still think Amaro's hit parade leading up to this week all but assures she'll be among the top four tonight.

But I thought Simon Cowell sounded an uncertain note when he urged America to vote for her.

"If this girl ends up in the piranha pool," he said, referring to the judges' last word, "she's out." What does that mean?

Marcus Canty: This guy is good-natured, good-looking and has a good voice, but has still found himself among the bottom two acts the past two weeks, forcing him upon the judges' good will which, fortunately for him, was more than enough to keep him hanging on.

So it was great to see him uncork two very, very strong performances Wednesday, first with a charisma-dripping rendition of Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody," and then with a tear-stained exhibition of Ray Charles's "A Song for You." Like Rene (and Crow, to a lesser extent), Canty is at his best when he holds much in reserve, since he doesn't have the range of Amaro or Krajcik. But Canty's definitely got stage presence, and knows how to sell a song, particularly in the case of the latter performance, which may have been his best of the season.

Will that be enough to push him through to next week? Given his track record, it's hard to say. But Canty's already been put through the ringer twice, and he's still here. Doesn't that count for anything?

Rachel Crow: As he introduced his only remaining teen girl singer, Cowell made sure to advertise that Crow came with "no chair," a reference to Drew's ill-fated presentation. Still smarting over last week's mishap, are we, Simon?

Regardless, Crow, who's reportedly already hearing overtures from Disney for a possible post-X Factor gig, made sure to cut down on the choreography for her first song, a rendition of Bruno Mars's "Nothin' on You." Keeping Crow essentially stationary was probably necessary, as the girl has had trouble in the past keeping up with stage-sweeping dance moves while trying to belt out songs.

And yet, I still felt her performance lacked a certain energy, as if she was struggling to keep up with the techno arrangement. Her follow-up cover of Michael Jackson's "Music and Me" was better as it returned to more familiar territory for Crow, even if I wondered if she was off-key during the song's opening bars.

Crow's clearly a star in the making, and a darling of the viewing audience. I'd be shocked if she's not advanced into next week.

Josh Krajcik: Much was made Wednesday over Krajcik's dance song choice, Rihanna's "We Found Love." Personally, I thought Krajcik turned in another soaring performance, as his raspy voice seemed to add an offbeat yet welcome compliment to the string-heavy arrangement.

But L.A. Reid still called out Krajcik, saying the song wasn't a good fit for him.

But to me, it's less about whether a song "fits" a singer and more about whether an artist can sell the performance. Think of these guys like used-car salesmen: the object isn't to convince you that a beaten-up Dodge Dart is a luxurious ride, but that you'd be perfect driving one.

Besides, a star's job is to keep the focus on themselves, and, if anything, make sure the arrangement compliments the performance, not draw attention away.

In the end, I'm with Paula Abdul: "He can take any song and make it believable as a dance hit." Bingo.

Besides, why should we criticize this guy, especially after he washed down that great showing with a beautiful send-up of The Beatles' "Something"? Bottom line: if this competition was strictly about pure singing ability and performance versatility, the first season of "The X Factor" would already be over. Krajcik is the best contestant left, he'll sail through tonight without a problem, and he deserves to be crowned champion.

Chris Rene: Ah, Rene, my old nemesis. I've been all-too-anxious to declare this guy's exit from the competition for several weeks now, as I continue to believe his R&B voice is glaringly limited compared to his fellow travelers.

But after a decent performance of "Live Your Life" by T.I. feat. Rihanna, Rene really kicked things into gear at the end of the episode with an original song, which I guess was entitled "Where do we go from here." Playing alone with a guitar, the performance had a touching singer-songwriter quality to it, and it really showed us something new from this guy, nearly three months after the season kicked off. The lyrics won’t win any awards for their depth, but his breezy vocal and relaxed acoustic guitar went well together.

And Rene was overjoyed when Cowell called the moment a "stroke of genius," as the singer no doubt felt that a Simon endorsement, on its own, would be enough to push him through into the next round. He's probably right.

Watching Rene push the afterburner at exactly the right time will make tonight's episode a lot of fun, and could make next week even more dramatic than previously anticipated.

So there you have it, the top five performances. Tonight, we'll find out who was kicked off Factor Island, so make sure to tune in at 8 p.m. on Fox to stay up to date with the developments.

But all this is just my take. What did you think? You can keep the conversation going by posting your comments below.